The Secrets We Keep
by NeoVenus22
Summary: PRMF. Xander has been waiting for Madison for years. Now that they're Rangers, the wait just got harder.
1. I Believe In Magic

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, yada yada yada.

Dedicated: to Sarafu and Arrowned, who are the only people not to think I'm crazy. Love you kids.

* * *

"We really need to stop doing this," said Madison, trying ineffectively to step away from Xander. He only grinned in response and kept his arms tight around her waist, having heard this statement time and time again. It wasn't a complaint, merely an idea without a belief to back it.

The two of them were in the store room at the Rockporium, supposedly to take inventory, but Xander had cornered her ten minutes ago, and they hadn't come up for air since. Xander felt a little guilty about always being the one initiating these moments, but Madison wasn't the sort of person who would. Besides, she knew he'd stop if she asked him to. She just hadn't ever asked.

"Why do we need to stop doing this?" he asked, still smiling.

"Because we're crammed in a closet, for starters."

"Well, that has an easy solution. We can just tell everyone about us, and then we don't have to hide."

Madison, however, remained unamused, unmoving in the circle of his arms. Realizing it was a lost cause yet again, Xander sighed and released her. She stepped back as far away from him as the tiny room would allow, and smoothed her hair. "There's no 'us', Xander."

"And why not. I like you, you like me... it's all really very simple."

Madison shook her head. "We just... We're at work. We should work."

"We haven't managed to do any work in the three years we've been here," he said. "Why start now?"

"My sister's out there," she said helplessly.

"Are you afraid of your sister?"

"No," she said, "but you should be."

"I don't know why you're so afraid to move forward with this—" he began, but she was already out the door, claiming she had to get back to work.

If Xander was the sort of person who got angry, he would've taken out his frustrations on the heaps of cardboard around him. But Xander rarely got angry. He preferred to see reason through calm means, through talking things out. But there were some things that were apparently impossible to talk out. Still, the flicker of irritation was gone as soon as it'd come, and instead of doing inventory like he should have, he went back into the main room of the store. He didn't really believe that Madison was going to be doing work, and he knew that Vida and Chip wouldn't be spontaneously productive, either. If they weren't going to work, neither was he.

Xander loved his job. Sure, comics were a medium conducive to fanboys and not cute girls parading around the store for the most part, but the presence of an underground music scene, not to mention a budding female DJ, led to a fair balance of the sexes. Toby was fairly lax about just how much work any of his employees had to do anyway, and he never minded if Xander practiced boarding in front of the store, because it drummed up business.

Plus, Xander had the bonus of working alongside his three closest friends. It was the mutual interest in getting paid for slacking in a cool environment that probably bonded them the most, because it wasn't like the four of them had anything in common beyond where they lived, where they went to school, and where they worked.

Xander loved skateboarding, talking, hearing himself talk, and girls who liked to hear him talk. Chip also liked girls, but much preferred them when they came from the pages of comics. It wasn't as though he had time for his lack of love life anyway, too busy being enrolled in every after-school activity known to man. Comic club, chess club, hurdles for the track team, and his passion for archery took up a considerable amount of time. Factor that in with his erratic work schedule, his penchant for daydreaming, and his unofficial role as Vida's sidekick.

Vida and Chip's friendship was the most interesting dynamic of the foursome by far, as it was one that completely defied explanation. While everyone around Chip lost patience with his little boy fascination with superheroes of all forms, even Xander, Vida didn't so much as blink. Likewise, Chip wasn't the slightest bit afraid of Vida's off-putting demeanor. On a bizarre level, she and Chip connected absolutely.

Vida and Madison, on the other hand, were twins who neither looked nor acted alike. Vida was bold and assertive, with nerve to spare. She told everyone exactly what she was thinking, and didn't care if they liked it or not. But on the flip side of that, a person always knew where they stood with Vida. She had fierce loyalty towards her sister in particular, and on the fringe of that, towards Chip and Xander.

That was perhaps the only trait that she and Madison shared. While Vida expressed herself through her DJing, and never shied from the spotlight, Madison tended to be at the fringe of things, observing. It was only logical, since the three of them all loved to mug for the camera, anyway.

Xander settled into his favorite chair, glad to see that work was as unproductive as ever. Everyone seemed to be in a silly mood. Vida wasn't DJing seriously, too occupied with making faces at her sister. Chip's usual running around lacked any sort of rhyme or reason; it was mostly just flailing. Madison, true to nature, was getting all of this on camera, and when she finally wheeled around to Xander with an affectionate 'hey,' he pushed up the sleeve of his uniform to flex his muscles at her. Madison turned away quickly, the smile dropping from her face. Apparently she didn't want any sort of evidence of Xander so much as looking at her oddly, much less flirting obviously. He would've been upset if he didn't understand.

* * *

The camera was how he and Madison had first met. Shortly after he'd moved to Briarwood, one of his classmates told Xander about a local underage club, where a girl from the high school would be DJing. Vida Rocca was a bit of a legend, even to a new guy, and Xander went.

Vida was great, but what had really caught his attention was the girl with the hoodie and the dark ponytail, who hovered around the stage instead of milling on the dance floor like everyone else. She was waving her camcorder at the crowd, and it happened to land on Xander just as he happened to be staring at her. He grinned and waved.

The girl looked up from her camera, met his eyes, and blushed noticeably in the dim lighting. Xander was sold. He made his way through the crowd, and used his killer opening line, "Hi, I'm Xander."

"Madison," she said shortly. Her lips quirked in a not-quite smile. She wasn't giving him much to work with, but that had never bothered him in the past.

"Not much of a dancer?" he asked.

Madison shook her head. "No, I—" She clapped the LCD screen shut and jerked her thumb at the DJ booth. "Actually, um, I'm filming for my sister. This is her first big gig."

"Very cool," said Xander, genuinely impressed by the both of them. "That's a lot of talent for one family. I'm surprised I didn't hear about you earlier."

Madison smiled at last, but only slightly. "People don't really talk about me," she said. She didn't sound particularly regretful, only matter-of-fact. Xander liked her ghost of a smile, and made it his mission to see it grow. Xander was friendly to everyone as a rule, but something about Madison just struck him. He couldn't put his finger on it.

"So you're going to show me the video later, right?" he asked.

"Um, sure."

"I'm serious," he said solemnly. "Don't just say yes to humor me and then we never see each other again."

It worked. She laughed. "All right. You are officially invited to the screening."

"Now I'm just impressed. Your sister has gigs, and you have screenings."

The camera was back on, fixated on him now. "And what do you do, Xander?" asked Madison, making him the star of the piece.

Xander grinned.

* * *

"What are we supposed to do now?" Madison asked, looking at him worriedly. Back in front of the store, she'd waved aside Vida and Chip's reckless behavior, but a good twenty minutes had passed, and she was beginning to pace. "It's dangerous in the woods, Xander, everyone knows that. They could be in real trouble."

"So we go after them," he decided.

She snorted derisively. "Sure. Then _we'll_ be in real trouble."

"Hey," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'll protect you."

"Uh-huh."

"Have some faith in your old pal Xander," he said with a grin, finally provoking a small smile out of Madison. "C'mon, let's go."

"How are we going to get there?"

"Vida has a car."

"As I recall, Vida threatened to mangle you if you even so much as touched her car."

"What Vida might do to me is nothing compared to what the woods might do to her."

Madison's face tightened with resolve. "You have a point. Let's go."

* * *

The first time they kissed was an accident. They'd been in the Roccas' kitchen, making cookies while Vida and Chip played a video game in the other room. Xander and Madison had both stooped at the same time to get the sheets out of the oven, and their heads bumped. Before Xander really knew what was going on, he was kissing Madison, or she was kissing him.

"That was interesting," he said, feeling awkward for the first time in a long time.

"What was..." she began.

"I don't know," he said.

They stared at each other slackly, unable to do much else.

It wasn't as though Xander had never kissed a girl before. But something about this was very, very different. And he could see it reflected in Madison's eyes: she felt it too.

They didn't kiss again. Xander made it a point of keeping his distance from Madison every time they hung out, just in case. But try as he might, he couldn't erase that moment from his mind. And now every time he kept his distance, he ended up watching her. The loving way she held her camera. Her shy smiles when dealing with customers or classmates. The way she giggled when Chip danced around the store. He couldn't stop thinking about her. And when he caught her throwing covert glances his way, when the camera pointed at him a little longer than necessary, he realized she had the same problem.

One evening, walking home after work, he couldn't stop himself from grabbing her arm and kissing her. She was beautiful, the lights from the street lamps making her hair darker and her eyes brighter, and he felt like he was losing his mind.

Madison didn't shy from the kiss, and when they pulled apart, he could still feel the burn from her hands on his shoulders, but she looked uncertain. "I don't know if I'm ready for this," she said. "We've been friends for a long time."

"We're still friends," he promised her. "No matter what. I'll wait. You just say the word, all right?"

She nodded. They kissed again, and a lot more after that night, but the word still hadn't come.

Xander was still waiting.

* * *

"Where's Madison?" Xander asked.

Vida shrugged, holding up two CDs and studying them intently in an absolute refusal to put them on the shelf. "Outside. That Nick kid is back on his bike. I think she's trying to convince him to fight."

"Good luck with that," said Chip.

Xander stepped over the large pile of comics that needed to be put on display, and gazed out the miniscule front window. He spotted Madison instantly, hunched in her tan hoodie, hands crammed in pockets, some hair falling in her face, shifting her weight back and forth as she peered shyly at Nick. Xander couldn't hear what they were saying, and he couldn't see the look in Madison's eyes, but he could see enough of her face to get the gist. A hot surge of lava flooded him, made his muscles tense up, and one of his hands clenched into an involuntary fist.

With a final nod, Madison abandoned the biker and crossed back over to the Rockporium, head down as she entered the building. "Is everything okay, Maddie?" he asked.

"Looks like it's only going to be the four of us," she said.

"Well, you gave it a shot," Vida announced from the other side of the room. "I wouldn't have bothered."

"Good," said Xander quietly, and Madison looked at him. "It's been the four of us for a long time now. We work fine together. We don't need him."

"Sure, we work fine together," said Madison. "That's why the store's in shambles."

"That's something else entirely, and you know it," he said. But Madison still looked dejected. Xander grabbed her arm, and with only the slightest of cursory glances to see if Vida and Chip were paying attention, and they weren't, he dragged her into the stock room. "What's really the matter?" he said.

"I don't know," she confessed.

"Is it Nick?" said Xander, staring at an unlabeled box.

"Is what Nick?"

What was he supposed to say? That he'd been watching her, that the burning feeling in his gut was a raging case of jealousy? Last week, he'd gone on a date with the captain of the girl's basketball team, and Madison had known about it. How could she not, Vida had teased him so ruthlessly. But even though the date had meant nothing, it made no case for his jealousy when Madison spread her attention beyond him. "You seemed very... intent on getting him to join," he said carefully.

"Udonna said there were supposed to be five of us," said Madison. "And Nick was the very first person to volunteer to go into the woods."

"Because he doesn't know the first thing about them," Xander couldn't help but interjecting, latching onto the tiny bit of superiority he had.

"I just think it means something, is all," said Madison. Something unknown shimmered in her eyes when she looked up at him, making his blood warm. "I believe in the magic, Xander. I know it sounds crazy, and it probably is, but... I really do believe."

Madison managed to look both confident and terrified, and something in her expression just called out to him. Inspired, he gripped her hand and held it tightly. "I believe in it, too," he said truthfully. The idea of magic just made sense in the grand scheme of things. And he couldn't help thinking that it was the magic that had led him to Madison in the first place. He leaned in, feeling her breath on his lips, needing so desperately to kiss her, and the door opened.

Xander dropped Madison's hand abruptly, and she moved to put distance between them, but Chip wasn't paying attention, holding up his morpher with Vida at his shoulder. "There's trouble," Clare's voice blurted frantically. "I don't know where Udonna is. Please hurry!"

"We're on our way," Chip said, ending the transmission.

"Let's do this," barked out Vida, turning and leading the pack out of the store, running wildly to the nearest tree. Xander lagged by only a fraction of a second, the last to gather his bearings as they fled the Rockporium, and as he jogged behind Madison, he wondered why the two of them never seemed to move at the same pace.


	2. Going Nowhere

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, yada yada yada. 

Dedicated: to m'homie Arrowned; and to the wonderful Sarafu: if I ever wrote for anyone, it'd be you.

* * *

Xander breezed through Rootcore with only the briefest acknowledgements of Udonna and Clare. The former was stirring, the latter was sweeping, and Xander was in no mood whatsoever for small talk. Although he liked both women, women were the root of his problem at the moment, and he'd had enough. He morphed quickly, mounted his Mystic Racer, and let out his frustrations by taking a few laps around the forest.

When he returned, Udonna was still stirring the contents of her cauldron, gazing serenely at the bubbling blue contents. "I admire your dedication, Xander," she said. "All the other Rangers have gone home."

Xander shrugged, trying to come up with an appropriately flippant response.

"I sense something great is troubling you," the sorceress said kindly.

"It's nothing," he waved off her worries.

"Fair enough. But you are aware that you can come talk to me if it ever progresses past 'nothing.'"

She was right. She was supposed to be their mentor, after all, and in the small amount of time they'd been Rangers, Udonna had always been there to offer advice. It was usually about the magic and fighting, but they were people before they were Rangers, and Xander was pretty sure she wouldn't say anything. "I'm... concerned... about Nick," he selected his words carefully.

Udonna flicked her fingers at her cauldron, and the bubbles threatening to erupt on its surface of its contents obediently sunk back under. "What is your concern?"

"I just don't think he's really working with the rest of the group," said Xander. "He doesn't want to be a Ranger like the rest of us do, I don't think." Xander felt a little guilty for undermining the guy who was supposed to lead the team, but the idea had been on his mind for a few days now.

"I understand that he doesn't associate with the group as much outside of Rootcore."

He wondered who had mentioned that. Vida in passing, perhaps, or maybe Chip had been teasing the Red Ranger. Or maybe Madison had the same concerns that Xander did, and had taken Udonna aside to voice them.

"He works with us, but he hangs out in the office, and he takes his breaks alone."

Udonna murmured, nodding her head. She pursued her lips in the direction of her work, then asked, "Maybe he's just having trouble fitting in, Xander. You have been friends with the other Rangers for some time, yes?"

"Well, Chip and the girls have known each other since grade school," he said.

"I see. Could you pass me the villetrop extract? It's right beside you, the purple one." Xander picked up the small bottle, filled with thick, murky, violet liquid, and passed it to her. "Thank you," she said, shaking in exactly three drops with a practiced hand. The cauldron's contents smoked slightly, and satisfied, she resumed the original conversation. "And you? How long have you been friends with them?"

"Ever since I moved to the States. That was three and a half years ago."

"So you were once the 'new guy,'" she said, flashing the same smirk she always used when making references to the vast culture gap. Xander could already guess what she was getting at, but waited for her to finish. "Perhaps you should consider that."

"This is different," he tried to make her understand, but even he didn't know where he was coming from. "The others and I always gelled." The second the words left his mouth, though, he realized the error in them. It was true that he and Madison and Chip and Vida had always gotten along. The error lay in the implication that Nick did not get along with the group. Because although Nick was prickly, and was antisocial in the way that he hung out with the group, the fact remained that he did hang out with them. So what if he didn't talk, or laugh at Chip the way they all did? Udonna was right; he was just easing into group dynamics.

And when he looked at her again, he could see in Udonna's eyes that she knew the conclusion he'd come to. "What is the real problem, Xander?"

Xander sighed. Her trust in him as a Ranger inspired a certain level of trust in her as a friend to know that she wasn't going to blab out the secret. Besides, he just needed someone to talk to. "All right," he said, "it's Madison. I think I'm—"

His communicator beeped. Ranger danger instincts already instilled in him, Xander opened it frantically, while Udonna turned to the crystal ball to see if the others were in trouble. "Xander, did you forget that you promised Toby you'd work two shifts today?" demanded Vida.

He remembered that particular conversation in the very back of his mind. "Sure, V, I'm on my way," he said distractedly. Udonna had moved on to checking the cupboard for ingredients, and he felt the sting of missed opportunity.

"You'd better be. Toby is this close to a spaz attack, and I'm not staying for another shift." She hung up abruptly.

"You have to go," said Udonna, not looking up from her task.

"Yeah," said Xander. He shifted his weight for a moment, unusually uncomfortable, with a variety of things in his mind but not quite on his lips. He wanted to continue their conversation as though the interruption hadn't taken place. He wanted advice. He wanted some sort of reassurance that anything he'd said or hadn't said was going to remain within the wooden walls of Rootcore.

"I hope things work out well for you, Xander," she said.

One side of Xander's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Yeah, you and me both."

* * *

Madison had known of Xander before they'd met. Word traveled fast at Briarwood High, and the new kid was apparently foreign, and very, very hot, according to the gossip floating around homeroom.

"I heard his parents are millionaires," said Jenny Potts in a stage whisper.

"I heard he's dating a supermodel," said Melanie McElliott.

Madison smiled to herself, but was dissuaded from listening to any more when Vida turned around and hissed that she didn't finish the math homework, and did Madison have the answers for questions ten through thirty.

Two days after that, her camera had spotted a tall, dark-haired boy standing in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by people grooving to Vida's beat, but remaining un-grooved.

Madison wasn't interested in boys, not really. That wasn't to say she wasn't interested in them in theory, but in practice, she found that outside of Chip, the male species was too complicated to contemplate. Madison much preferred the documentation of the human race, rather than the interactions with them. Jenny and Melanie, for example, very pretty on the screen, but off camera, and behind one's back, they could be viciously ugly. Lots of people could be.

Madison kept to herself, and as a result, people tended to forget she existed, outside of the context of being Vida's sister. So when the tall, dark-haired boy met the gaze of her lens head-on, she was interested. And when she looked up, and he met her eyes, she was surprised. Even under flashing colored lights, he was as hot as the girls in homeroom had declared. And for some bizarre reason, he'd taken to talking to her. What was more, he wasn't using her, as some people had done in the past, to try and get to Vida.

When he grinned at her, she tried not to let her embarrassment and pleasure show, and instead focused her camera on him. He was exactly the same on it as off.

* * *

"Where's Xander?" asked Toby. "His shift starts in five minutes." Madison could see why Toby was concerned; Xander was always on time for work. He was good friends with Toby, really respected him, and while it seemed like he never did any work, he loved his job and took it seriously. Xander was always ten minutes early, which now meant he was five minutes late.

"I'm not sticking around," said Vida decisively, whipping off her work shirt and stalking over to the turntables. With her back to the room, she pulled something out of her pocket, and Madison checked to make sure Toby was distracted, because it looked a lot like a wand.

Sure enough, not five minutes later, sliding in just under the bar, Xander rushed into the room, half in the process of putting on his tan shirt. Vida, despite the fact that she still technically had thirty seconds left on the clock. was already outside starting her car, because her shift ended when she said it did.

Madison was straightening a display by the front counter when Xander emerged from Toby's office, brushing imaginary dust out of his hair. At the moment, they were the only two people in the store except for one customer browsing the comics, and it was quiet save for the TV showing the music channel. Xander stopped five feet away from her, and said without emotion, "Hi."

"Hi," she said cautiously. He had been acting peculiarly ever since she'd used that spell to make his head grow. She wondered if it was having lasting side effects. She had thought that she showed more aptitude for magic than Clare, but maybe that wasn't the case.

"Where's Toby?"

"He went home. That was why he wanted two of us on tonight, remember?" Madison had always liked working alongside Xander. Like Chip and Vida had formed a bond, so had Madison and Xander. They were efficient, when they wanted to be, and work was always fun.

Except now, when Xander was being uncharacteristically moody and monosyllabic. The behavior continued for about half an hour before Madison was unable to take it anymore. In an effort to make conversation, she said, "So, it's really cool that Nick gets that new bike. I mean, since he rides motorcycles and all. I don't really think he's all that comfortable on the Racers."

Xander abruptly dropped the stack of magazines he'd been about to display, and they fell to the counter with a thud. The one on the top of the pile slid off and spilled messily on the floor. He took no notice of this, however, already halfway through the office door.

Madison was increasingly perplexed by his odd behavior, and becoming dangerously close to a rare bout of anger. She took quick inventory of the small store to determine that they had no customers, and followed him.

"Xander? Is everything okay?"

The tension in the room was abysmally thick, especially with Xander's back to her, and there was a lengthy silence before he answered, "I'm fine, thank you." His words were formal and clipped, his accent pronounced.

In the years Madison had known him, she'd never seen him lose his cool, that she could recall. If there even was an incident, it had likely been over so quickly that she'd forgotten all about it. "I'm not thrilled about having to work a double shift either," she tried, "but the job's not so bad..."

He sighed laboriously. "It's not the job." Madison was about to prod further when he turned quickly, his mood mysteriously gone, and replaced instead with a sharp glint in his eye and faint traces of that familiar smile. "I've worked some great late nights; maybe you remember."

She did remember, and blushed slightly as evidence. This action did not go unnoticed, and Xander's hint of a smile blossomed. He came out from behind the desk and touched her shoulder. "I miss you, Madison," he said quietly, stepping closer. Madison found that she missed him too, her arm already tingling from his touch, and her fingers cramping with the inexplicable impulse to mess with his hair.

Outside of the office, the bell rang, signaling the arrival of a customer. Without a word, Madison backed away and headed out into the store, conversely disappointed and relieved. Her entire relationship with Xander was beginning to get very confusing. It would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy her encounters with him, and didn't, at least subconsciously, desire them all the more. She liked the attention he lavished on her, whether his intentions were flirty or not. She appreciated the secret messages he tried to send her when he hammed for the camera, though she pretended fervently not to.

The thing was, as much as she derived pleasure from being around Xander, it also made her uncomfortable. Someone was going to catch them. And things would completely fall apart after that, provided that Vida didn't kill Xander off the bat. If Madison and Xander became a couple, things would be so awkward between the four of them. The group might dissolve entirely. And what about Nick?

The moment Nick entered her thoughts, Madison felt a rush of guilt that she couldn't explain. Who was she feeling disloyal to, Xander or Nick? It wasn't as though Nick was interested in her —or that she was interested in Nick. He was her friend, her coworker, her teammate, and a large part of her relationship with him was simply getting him to stay. Trying to convince him, day after day, that he was both wanted and needed.

Her train of thought was already disastrous, and the last thing it needed was the appearance of Leelee. But there she was, poking at one of Toby's carefully crafted displays with a sneer. One that grew more twisted as she lay eyes on Madison. "Oh. You."

"Hi, Leelee." Madison forced a smile.

"Where's Nick?"

"I'm not his keeper."

"No, you're right. You follow him around like his lackey."

Nothing provoked anger in Madison quite like Leelee did, but it wasn't a good idea to mouth off to the customers, no matter who they might be. "Do you need something?" she asked in her most businesslike tone.

"I'm fine, but you really need a spine," said Leelee distastefully.

Xander appropriately chose that moment to reenter the room. "Everything all right out here?" he began. "Oh. Hell, Leelee." Madison wasn't sure whether Xander's vague dislike of Leelee was because of the girl's poisonous personality, or merely because she had blown him off on their first encounter in favor of Nick. All Madison knew was that Xander, who was friendly to absolutely everybody, seemed to be put off by Leelee.

Then again, maybe Leelee was only mean to her. Or maybe it was all in Madison's imagination. Maybe Madison was just misinterpreting everything Leelee said.

To illustrate Madison's insecurity, Leelee smiled brightly. "Hi, Xander. I'm just browsing, thank you." She looked between them with shining eyes. "Wow. Two whole employees just for little old me. What customer service!"

Past the point of caring what she looked like, Madison announced, "Well, Xander, it looks like you have this one under control I'm going to go finish in there." She jerked her thumb in the direction of Toby's office. Xander, and probably Leelee as well, knew perfectly well that there was nothing that Madison had to finish. But he nodded, and Madison took that as her cue to retreat.

Five minutes later, Xander joined her. "Leelee's gone," he said. "And I locked the front door."

"Xander, we're still open for another half hour."

"You know as well as I do that no one's going to come in for that half hour." Silence settled between them, but the distance was closing. Xander's hand was on her waist, and she shut her eyes in anticipation. She hadn't forgotten where they'd left off, and she hadn't before realized how much she'd wished they hadn't been interrupted. But a few seconds went by, feeling like eons, and Madison opened her eyes to find Xander staring at her.

"Maybe you're right," he said. Maybe we should work." He lingered for a moment longer, his hand warm, his fingers adapting to the curve of her waist, and then he left.

Madison wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel, a confused mix of grateful and let down, but she felt cold.

* * *

Xander couldn't decide yet if he regretted his action or not. On the one hand, he had exercised willpower and self-control amazingly. On the other hand, what if his ill-conceived plan backfired, and absence did not make Madison's heart grow fonder? What if he had just effectively driven her to Nick?

She took a few moments to compose herself before emerging, and it was as though nothing had changed. They fell back into their usual rhythm, joking around like the old friends they were. Xander could understand why Madison didn't want to give this up, but he still thought it was an irrational fear. Didn't she see they wouldn't have to? Xander would sooner surrender to Koragg than he would forgo his friendship with Madison.

But if she kept being afraid of moving forward, and if he kept performing silly heroic moves like the one he had just pulled off, it looked as though they'd never be anything more than friends.


	3. Still and Solid

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me.

* * *

Xander didn't like the way his friends were handling Madison. Not that Nick and Chip were being particularly rough with her, it was more him having a problem with them handling her at all. He didn't know why he hadn't volunteered for the task. At the time, he'd been too distracted. Vida had screamed out affectionate terms for Madison as though she'd wanted the whole of Briarwood to know that Madison was the Pink Ranger's sister. Some boy had touched the statue fondly before running, and Xander was twisting with the notion that Madison had probably sacrificed herself to save him. That in itself didn't bother him, it was the hand on the back, the look of concern, the fact that he'd called her "Maddie."

Xander already had enough problems with Nick. Who was this kid to come in and split Madison's attention three ways?

While Vida ranted and raved to Nick about the true nature of Maddie's character, Xander turned to Udonna. "Can she hear in there?" he asked.

Udonna looked slightly mystified, still reeling from the idea that her spell wasn't strong enough. The concept that Udonna's powers were not as impressive as they'd originally appeared was a bit jarring to everyone. "I imagine she can," said the sorceress. "Regardless, it would do her good to hear some words of comfort."

Xander checked that the others weren't listening. Udonna was either genuinely distracted, or pretending to be for his sake, but either way, he wasn't concerned about his trust being violated. He touched a hand to Madison's shoulder, almost shuddered from the cold, impersonal solidity of his literally petrified friend. "I love you," he said quietly. He didn't know if she could hear, if she could comprehend, or if she would remember this. But it had to be said, and it gave him some relief to say it aloud, even if no one heard.

On the video that Vida had magically called to life, Xander noted with a flush of pride the way Madison's camera graced him not once, but twice. He knew it was the only way she would let herself get comfortably close to him in public, which was why he always made it a point to amp up his performance, so that she'd have something to remember him by.

He also noticed the way Nick's eyebrows quirked at Xander's second cameo, and the slight grunt of irritation. Xander tensed; it looked like jealousy. Whatever Madison's feelings for Nick were —and Xander had a sinking suspicion about their true nature— it looked as though Nick was very much interested, no matter how he might pretend not to be. The only question was whether or not Madison realized this.

* * *

The five of them had returned to Rootcore after the battle for a debriefing, but Udonna was as tired as they were, and sent them home with instructions to appreciate their victory with some well-earned rest.

Nick, Chip, and Vida all cut out quickly. But Madison stayed behind. She claimed to be fine, but Xander thought he saw a clouding in her eyes behind her smile, and he too stayed.

Madison gazed at the crystal ball for several minutes before Xander finally dared to speak. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Madison laughed slightly. "It's a dangerous game. I don't think I ever really realized before."

Xander put his arms around her with unprecedented urgency, grateful to feel pliant flesh instead of cold stone. "I'm glad you're okay," he said in a low voice, embarrassed to be so uncharacteristically swept up in emotion.

"I'm glad to be back," she laughed, returning his hug affectionately. "Even if I don't remember being gone."

It was bizarre to think that a series of moments so traumatic for him had only been a blink of nothing to her. "Doesn't matter," he said dismissively, squeezing her shoulder once more to reassure himself she was all right. "Listen, Madison, all of that... It made me realize something. You're the most important person in my life."

"Xander..."

"And I'm going to protect you."

She touched his arm, and with the tiny gesture he received a flash of remembrance, of her stroking his arm and kissing him with abandon. He was hit with the memory of moments of what he could only describe as pure happiness. "Xander, that's sweet. But—"

"You don't need protection?" he guessed.

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say that we're supposed to be using this gift to protect others. Briarwood. The world. And you can't protect the world if you're wasting all your time protecting me."

"You _are_ the world to me," he tried to explain, and was rewarded for his efforts by a flash of pain in her eyes.

"I don't know, Xander," she said. "Maybe we should stop."

Nick, he thought, wondering how general accusations without prior knowledge of one's character, then a halfhearted apology and a bland shoulder pat could justifiably make someone a hero. He'd never understand how women's minds worked.

"There's someone..." she said awkwardly. "Well, there might be someone. I don't know. But I don't want there to not be." Madison sighed, looking defeated. "I'm not making much sense. I'm sorry. I just like Ben, or I think I might like Ben, and I might never know if you and I keep this up."

Ben? Who was Ben? Not the boy from the park who'd touched her statue and called her Maddie. What happened to Nick? This was beginning to get ridiculous. Not to mention unfair.

This left Xander with a particularly difficult decision. He could obey Madison's wishes and back off, but at the price of his own happiness. After the epiphany he'd had —knowing that he was never going to be able to sleep at night unless he knew Madison was safe, knowing he was never going to be happy unless he was with her— he wasn't sure he could only be friends with Madison. And he wasn't convinced that he could get through another battle where she was in horrible danger.

"All right," he said. "I'll back off and let you have your thing with Ben. But you have to give up Rangering."

Madison had such expressive eyes, ones that flickered from a hopefulness that broke his heart, to a desolation that tore up what remained of the organs in his chest, and pureed them. He felt like the worst kind of villain for trying to manipulate someone he cared so much about, but at the same time, he couldn't help thinking that it had to be done. He had to make his position known, and he had to see where she stood.

"I can't do that, Xander," she said deliberately, looking both dejected and horrified. "You know I can't."

"And you should know by now that I can't give you up," he said softly. "I won't."

"How can you even suggest anything so selfish?" she demanded. "This is the world we're talking about. This isn't a game!"

He was the last person she need to remind of this fact, but even the unflappable Xander was beyond the point of rational discussion. "And yet you treat me like a pawn," he said. "You're so quick to dismiss my feelings like I'm just playing. Every waking moment I'm in agony, trying to keep our secret a secret for your sake, and what do I get in return? Nothing. I might be selfish, Madison, but you're heartless."

She spluttered at him, and he considered that perhaps he'd gone too far, yet he couldn't stop the torrent of words. Words had always been his friends, his saviors, getting him out of scrapes, but now they were digging the grave he was to lie in.

"You act as though it's just a phase. You treat me like I'm just a child you're indulging."

"If I treat you like a child, it's only because you behave like one. You pout and throw tantrums and have ridiculous mood swings. How am I supposed to take you seriously?"

He adopted a Vida move, dismissing the argument with a "Whatever," and a hand flick. "I'm done," he said. "No woman is worth this trouble."

Madison responded to this unfair statement with an indignant face, but Xander didn't get to see it in full bloom, as he was already leaving. He supposed she was right about the fact that he threw tantrums, which in and of itself was horribly unlike him. He was changing so much these days, but it couldn't be helped. Madison was severely driving him to his breaking point, and he didn't know how much more he could stand. First Nick, now Ben, and yet she still kept him in the lurch, unwilling to lavish her feelings on the one who obviously adored her.

He waited, and he wanted, and he continued to love her, but she only jerked him around. She didn't say no when he kissed her, but he was barely allowed to look at her in public, for fear that their friends find out. He allowed her all of this, he kept things on her terms, and it was only serving to make him miserable.

It was ridiculous to think their relationship was ever going to be anything more than it was. She trusted him, but clearly only so far. It was seriously time to reassess this situation. He was a young, charming, reasonably intelligent, attractive guy with a steady job. He could have his pick of pretty girls, and yet he spent all of his time on a girl who didn't want to be with him. Was he a glutton for punishment, or just stupid?

* * *

Ben was exactly where he said he'd be, in the mall food court, in from of Sbarro's. The both of them smiled as she sat down, and Ben brandished a white cup nervously. "I got you a drink," he said. "Do you like lemonade?"

Madison did love lemonade, and told him so. She accepted the cup gratefully, and took several desperate tugs at the straw, a gesture lacking any feminine grace. But she barely noticed this, instead reveling in the sweet liquid pouring down her throat. She found it was very dry after her fight with Xander.

Things were getting worse and worse between them. Once upon a time, they had been best friends, their relationship as strange as it was strong. Two people who on paper, shouldn't work. And yet, they always had. From the moment she'd met him, Madison liked, respected, and ultimately, trusted Xander. He didn't play games. He cared about his friends immensely.

So why was he acting this way? What had happened to the Xander she knew, who was this guy replacing him, who threw fits and flipped hot and cold on her?

"Maddie? Are you all right?"

Madison looked up guiltily. She was on a date with Ben, and she was thinking about Xander.

"I'm sorry," she said, putting on her kindest smile and forcing herself to concentrate. "I'm all here, I promise. I just got a little distracted."

"Oh. Is everything okay?"

"You make me nervous," she admitted. "I've never really been on a date before."

Ben stared. "You?"

His scrutiny, combined with her confession, was only serving to make her more nervous. "Yeah."

"Never."

"No."

"Wow." Ben took a moment to sip his lemonade while he let this information settle. "I just never would've expected it. I mean, you're so pretty, and smart. I just figured a lot of guys asked you out."

"Not exactly." On top of everything, she was now blushing. "You're the first."

Ben, to her surprise, grinned. "Very cool," he said. "I guess I'm the first person to get to see the real Madison."

Madison smiled and averted her eyes. Ben probably thought she was being shy, but she was ruminating on the fact that his assessment wasn't true. People saw the real Madison. Vida had seen her cry over the movie _Love Story_ once a month the year they were thirteen. Chip had secretly given her a few archery lessons, and never even explained that the real reason he had the scar on the back of his calf was because the bow had accidentally gone off in her hands while he was setting up the target. Xander let her come over to his house every week to watch American Idol, so Vida wouldn't know. And Nick...

Nick didn't know very much about her. Nick assumed that she hid, and she did, sometimes. She was, in part, hiding from him. She liked Nick —a lot— but she didn't know yet if she could trust him. He didn't have it easy, being the new guy in a group as closely knit as they already were. As twins, Madison and Vida already had an unbreakable bond, best friends since before they were born. And Madison didn't think twice about trusting Xander and Chip with her life. Put aside what little Nick knew about her, what did Madison know about Nick Russell?

That he was a Ranger. A good one. He was a fighter, and he'd fought for her, and that should be enough.

Her relationship with Nick was very complicated and confusing.

As was her relationship with Xander.

And her relationship with Ben was about to become nonexistent if she didn't answer him the next few seconds. "Yeah," she said quickly, awkwardly, lowering her voice and still not meeting his gaze, so she could affect the guise of still being shy.

"You wanna go somewhere else?" he asked quietly, looking at her as though he understood. There was infinite kindness in his eyes. "We could probably catch a movie. Or dinner. Or dessert. Or mini-golf, or bowling, or we could go to the zoo, or the park, or the whatever. Name it. I live to serve."

Madison granted him a small curve of a smile. "What if I said I wanted to go to the library?"

"Then we'd go to the library. Fiction or nonfiction?"

"Nonfiction. Biographies." Madison liked knowing things about other people, seeing sides that they didn't normally show. It was one of the major reasons she usually had a camera in hand, hoping to capture the true essence of someone.

Ben slapped his hands on the table, grinning at her. "All right. To the biography section we go."

"Not just yet," she said, warming up to the game. "What if I said I wanted to go to a karaoke bar?"

"I have a number of seventies classics up my sleeve," he said. "I think I'd manage."

"The planetarium," she tested him.

"I love stars."

"The arboretum."

"I love oxygen."

Madison laughed out loud. "You're very good."

"Well, I have to be. You're being very challenging. Did I pass the test?"

She nodded, pleased. "I'd say so."

"Very cool," he approved. "So. Do you want to get out of here, then?"

"Sure," said Madison. This relationship was certainly neither confusing nor complicated. She liked Ben quite a bit, and it was obvious that he really seemed to like her. And that plain certainty was exactly what she needed.

However, when they stood, and he reached tentatively for her hand, Madison felt a shock in her arm that was not pleasant tingles from contact. It appeared to be more of a warning sign, as if the act of holding Ben's hand, which was warm but not clammy, was wrong.

Perhaps things were not as uncomplicated as she'd originally thought.


	4. Whispers of Doubt

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me.

* * *

Two weeks after their first date, Madison was coming home from another outing with Ben to find her sister in the kitchen. "Xander called while you were out," Vida said, not looking up from her crossword and cake slice. "Said something about wanting his CD or whatever."

"Did he say which CD?" Madison asked, knowing perfectly well that she had nothing of Xander's. They didn't even have the same taste in music.

"No. He just said, 'Tell her to call me back.' Like I'm an answering machine." She raised her eyes. "How was your date with Ben?"

"Fun," said Madison, sitting down. "We went mini-golfing."

"I thought you said it was fun."

Madison rolled her eyes and poked her sister's shoulder. Vida grinned, and licked the excess frosting off her fork. "Mom made cake, by the way."

"I can see that." She made no move to feed herself though, instead taking the newspaper and studying the crossword puzzle. Four down, seven letters, 'Dir. Blank Bay'. She took the pencil as well, scribbling in 'Michael'. "What do you think of Ben?" she asked casually.

"In terms of what?"

"Pick something."

"Well." For once, Vida paused for consideration before speaking. "He's cute, I guess. Not by my standards, he's so not my type, but he's cute for you. And he seems... sweet."

"He is sweet. Sweet's good."

"Sweet's good," Vida agreed. "And he obviously is crazy about you, which is a bonus." Madison nodded seriously. "But Maddie, you don't need my approval."

"What are you talking about?" said Madison. "Of course I do. If Ben's going to be a part of my life, I need you to like him."

"'If'? I thought he already was."

"He is," she said. "He's just not a part of my _life_ life, you know? He hasn't hung out with all of us."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," said Vida. "The Rangering thing, and all."

"I know," said Madison. "But I want him to meet everybody."

"Is he your boyfriend now? Or have you guys not figured that out yet?"

"Not really," she said, not answering either question.

Vida was staring at her hard. "What about Nick?"

At this, even though she knew perfectly well that Vida would see right through her, Madison bent her head to study the stolen crossword puzzle again. Thirty-seven across, fourteen letters, third letter P, seventh letter O, thirteenth letter M, two words, 'second attempt failure'.

"Sis," Vida pressed. "I can read you like a book, don't even bother. I know you like Nick."

"It's complicated," hedged Madison, an understatement if she'd ever issued one.

"As if any of this isn't. Listen, Maddie, you need to do what makes you happy. Does Ben make you happy, or does Nick?"

"You say that as if I can just pick one and be done with it," said Madison. "They both make me happy, Vee. It's just different. At least I know Ben likes me."

"Nick likes you fine."

Madison wondered what Vida's basis for that comment was. She penciled 'sophomore slump' into the crossword, squirming with the notion that maybe her hopes weren't completely unfounded.

"Do you really think so?" she finally asked, shyness thick in her voice.

"Madison, do you hear what you're asking? Listen. You are the nicest person only ever, you're smart, you're creative, you're ridiculously pretty, and I'm not just saying that because we look alike—"

"We don't look anything alike," said Madison with a smile.

"—and you kick major butt. Of _course_ Nick and Ben like you. What sane guy wouldn't?" Vida polished off the last of her snack, smacking her lips decidedly. "And speaking of guys, what's up with you and Xander?"

Madison had, for the past few moments, been lost in thought about Nick, not that she would ever admit to it. But she jerked to attention at the mention of Xander's name. Vida knew her so well, well enough to know about her crush on Nick that she refused to bring voice to; it only made sense that she knew about the Xander issue as well. "What?" she said, trying not to choke on the word.

"Are you guys avoiding each other or something? Him calling earlier was the first time I've seen him in awhile. You don't even work shifts together. You fighting?"

Madison remembered the last time she'd had any sort of interaction with Xander, eight days ago, where they'd argued horribly in Rootcore. They'd taken pains to avoid each other since. Madison regretted the things she'd said, but still believed them to be true, which made apologizing difficult. "It's nothing," she assured her sister. "Just a stupid argument."

"Whatever it is, don't let it get in the way of the team," said Vida.

"Since when are you about the team?" said Madison, latching onto the subject change like a drowning victim with a life preserver.

"Fighting evil is kinda awesome," Vida said simply. She stood to rinse off her plate. "Go call Xander. You guys have been tight for ages, I don't like watching you not get along."

Madison rolled her eyes for Vida's benefit. "Fine." She went up to her room, grabbing the phone in the hallway en route, and had already dialed Xander's number by the time she closed her door. All of this was pure reflex, and it wasn't until she heard the ringing on the other end that she questioned whether or not she wanted to make the call in the first place.

"Hello," Xander answered.

"It's Madison."

"I know. We have caller ID. What's up? Finally deigning to speak to me now?"

Madison took a deep breath to keep from snapping at him. Although her words still had considerable bite when she did reply. "At least I'm speaking to you. Unless you want to keep pushing your luck."

"Fine, sorry."

"Why did you call? I don't have any CDs of yours."

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I can only imagine what about," she said. And though she trusted her sister implicitly, and had no reason to believe that Vida even suspected anything, she didn't want to run the risk. "Can we meet somewhere? I don't want to do this over the phone."

"Fine, we'll go to that coffee shop down by the docks."

"Coffee?"

"Yeah. Your sister won't drink it, and Chip's not allowed to. No one we know is going to be there. I thought that was what you wanted."

Naturally, she couldn't argue with that. "Fine. Half an hour."

As she headed out the door, she passed Vida, still in the kitchen with her crossword. "What's a four-letter citrus?" said her sister.

Madison debated it. "Lime."

Vida cocked her head, staring at the puzzle. "Are you sure that's a citrus?"

"I think so. A lemon's a citrus, right? And lemons and limes are practically the same thing."

"Okay." Vida wrote it down. "Where are you going?"

"Returning Xander's CD," she answered automatically.

"Cool. Are you guys gonna make up?" asked Vida.

Madison blanched. "What? God, no, of course not!"

Vida looked up, a frown staining her face. "Why not? What on earth did he do to make you so angry?"

With horror, Madison realized her faux pas. She had managed to mishear her sister, and thought Vida was asking if the two of them were going to make out. A huge Freudian slip if there ever was one.

Because, despite herself, and despite everything with Ben and even everything with Nick, Madison found herself missing Xander very much.

"He... It... I don't know. Nothing. I don't even remember anymore. I just got so involved in fighting with him, that I sort of forgot what it was about."

"You guys are the last people that should be fighting with each other," said Vida matter-of-factly. "End it."

Madison delivered a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Vida grinned. "That's 'sir' to you."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"At ease, soldier."

"I'll see you later, Vee." Madison ducked out of the front door, and the second she was free of the kitchen, she was free of her momentary relaxation. Xander wanting to talk to her couldn't be anything good.

On the other hand, when she sat across from him half an hour later, he was smiling. "Hi."

"Hi," she answered.

And to his credit, he cut to the chase. "Look," said Xander, "this is silly. We've been friends forever. We shouldn't be fighting like this." His eyes looked a little sad. "I miss you, Madison."

"I miss you too," she admitted. How could she not? He was her best friend.

"It was unjust of me to issue an ultimatum like that," he continued. "I'm sorry."

"We both said some things we regret," she said. "But we're better than that. We can just move on from this."

"Agreed," he said. "So, friends again?"

"Friends again," said Madison, smiling, and in return, Xander flashed her his very best grin. She knew it was his best because one afternoon when she was thirteen, she'd sat in his room watching him practice ever smile from every angle in his mirror. So much had changed in the years since, and at the same time, so little.

Finally, Xander asked, "How's Ben?"

"Ben's fine," she said carefully.

"Is he your boyfriend now?" Madison was beginning to get a little sick of the question, but she found herself, oddly, being more honest with Xander than with her sister.

"I'm not really sure. We've never really talked about it. I guess it's too soon for that." She frowned. "Or is it too late? I don't know; I've never really done this before." Too late, she realized she'd given Xander an opening. Whatever the reason, he decided not to take it.

"Are you happy, at least?"

She eyed him. "Yes."

"Okay."

Madison waited for the other shoe to drop, but received nothing. Relieved, and now anxious for other reasons, she opted to reveal said anxiety. "I'm scared about us getting serious, though," she said. "I mean, we battle a lot. The Rangers we, I mean," she amended, "not Ben and me. The Rangers battle a lot, and I have to run off without explanation. I don't know how much more of that he'll be able to take before he decides it's not worth it and drops me."

Xander put his hand over hers. "Madison," he said gravely, "you're worth it. Trust me on that one."

It took every once of control that Madison had to refrain from allowing the blush that threatened. "And," she plowed on, trying not to show how affected she was by his comment, "if we do get serious, it's going to be harder and harder for me to hide the truth. I mean, it's not that I don't trust him with the secret. I do. It's more of, he'll never understand. He'll be supportive, but he'll never get it."

Earlier, she had been proud of Xander's restraint. He threw that out the window, however, uttering, "You think too much," before lunging across the table to press his lips to hers.

Madison kissed him back without thinking, and when her brain finally chose to catch up with the rest of her body, it was too late. "Xander," she said, flustered, torn between wanting to reprimand him and wanting to kiss him again. "We can't. Not anymore."

"Right. Ben. Sorry." He handled it remarkably well, settling back into his chair and folding his hands on the table with utter serenity. "A few things. One, if you do decide to tell Ben, you had better okay it with the rest of the team first. I know you trust him, and believe me, your faith goes a long way, but all the same, it's a big decision to make on your own."

"I know," she said.

"Two —and Maddie, this is important— make sure this is what you really want."

This statement unnerved Madison. Of course it was what she wanted; she wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't. An actual, stable, healthy relationship. What else could she want?

What she found she really wanted, though, was for Xander to stop looking at her like he knew her.

* * *

Xander had been having an excellent week, what with getting Madison to talk to him again. Or had he not been talking to her? It was hard to keep straight. Regardless, it had been a long couple of weeks, especially knowing that Madison was passing the time with that Ben kid. And if she was passing the time with someone else, it meant that she was not spending every second thinking about him. That was bad.

But she had kissed him back, and that was considerable progress.

Progress, however, was something that came in extremely limiting spurts. As Xander and three of his coworkers went in for their shift at the Rockporium, Vida came up behind him and punched his shoulder. "I can't believe you thought I stole from Toby."

He struggled to put forward one of his most disarming smiles. "Hey, be fair, I lumped the same amount of accusation on all of you."

Vida rolled her eyes, acknowledgement that the joke had been in poor taste. "Xander, we've been friends for years, but you pull something like that, and it's like I don't know you at all." She did in fact look righteously indignant, and with just cause.

"I'm sorry," he huffed. "I was scared, is all. It was my neck and my job on the line."

"I can understand that," she said, "but that doesn't give you the right to take it out on the rest of us." She pouted. "Me especially. Next time you pull something like that, I will end you."

Xander apologized profusely, but as Vida left him, she also left him with an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He hunted down Madison, counting out the money in the register. "We need to talk," he said.

"Why is it that every time you start a conversation with that, I get nervous?"

"I didn't mean to accuse you," he said. "You know that, right?"

"Accuse me of what?"

"Of stealing the money from the store. I didn't think you'd done it. I would never think that."

"I know," she said.

"Are you mad?" he asked anxiously.

"No, I get it. But I don't know if Vida will be so understanding," she said with a rueful smile.

"She already chewed me out," Xander agreed. "But I can handle Vida."

Madison laughed. "Are you sure?"

"It's you I can't handle," he teased.

She was starting to smile, but it slipped from her face as she focused on something just behind him. Xander turned to look; Nick was walking past them with his head bent low to focus on the clipboard in hand. He had forgiven them for their false (but not unfounded) accusation, but he had yet to forget, from the look of things. And when Xander looked back at Madison, she was clearly troubled.

Xander regretted the whole matter now, because he did like Nick, and had decided it wouldn't hurt to trust him as a leader, if not as a friend. But he'd be lying if he said that he didn't feel a spark of hope and victory when Madison agreed with him about Nick's untrustworthiness. Guilt came with that hope, too; guilt that winning Madison would be at the expense of Nick.

Even if Xander had been there first.

Of course, you couldn't tell that from the way that Madison was staring after Nick. Xander still wasn't convinced that Nick could entirely be trusted. The Red Ranger had an element of mystery, and Xander didn't like it, though Madison obviously did. Xander was debating if he should say anything, either reassure Madison, or apologize again to Nick, but was saved from the decision by a tap on his shoulder.

He tensed slightly, the side effect of being a Ranger now. But it was only a girl, smiling at him with a flirtiness that no one had graced him with in awhile, but that he still recognized. After a moment's pause, he realized it was the girl from earlier, whose number he tried to get, the act that had started off the whole debacle in the first place. He smiled at her. "Hello there. Do you need help with anything?"

"Not exactly," she said. "My name is Courtney, and I just wanted to apologize for running out on you yesterday."

Xander turned up the wattage a notch. "Ah, well, no harm done."

"See, I wasn't entirely honest with you... I don't _actually_ have a boyfriend."

"Oh, really?"

Next to him, Madison rolled her eyes and returned her attentions to the register.

"Yeah. The thing is, we broke up a few weeks ago, and I'm just so used to telling people that I'm taken..." She shrugged with an embarrassed smile. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize, and give you this." She pressed something into his hand, and he took it, a square of paper that when he unfolded it, held seven digits. Xander grinned. "So," continued Courtney, "now you know how to reach me. If you're still interested, that is."

"I think something can be arranged," said Xander, pocketing the paper.

"All right, cool," said Courtney. She had a very cute smile. "I guess I'll...see you later, then."

"I should hope so," he said. He watched her walk away, still grinning, but when he turned back to the counter, Madison was not smiling at all.


End file.
